IKEA's Surprise Holiday Bonus for Employees: Bikes for All

For retail employees, holiday bonuses tend toward the low-cash-value gift certificate -- and it's not unusual to get gift cards for your own store, or nearby casual-dining chains. For years, the IKEA stores have been rather run-of-the-mill in this regard. Last year, according to one employee, the IKEA store in Portland, Ore., gave its employees the usual restaurant gift certificates.

This year, the Portland store was one of the last to get a surprise: at 9:30 a.m. local time Tuesday in all the company's U.S. stores, every employee was given a box containing the parts for a brand-new bicycle, 12,400 in all.